218 pages
Langue : English
Publié 2023 par Peirene Press, Limited.
A novel of man's relationship with nature, power, and the vitality of storytelling, from beloved Thai author Saneh Sangsuk. The lovable, yarnspinning monk Luang Paw Tien, now in his nineties, is the last person in his village to bear witness to the power and plenitude of the jungle before agrarian and then capitalist life took over his community. Nightly, he entertains the children of his village with tales from his younger years: his long pilgrimage to India, his mother’s dreams of a more stable life through agriculture, his proud huntsman father who resisted those dreams, and his love, who led him to pursue those dreams all over again. Sangsuk’s novel is a celebration of the oral tradition of storytelling and, above all else, a testament to the power of stories to entertain.
Restless story telling swirling around a Thai monk recounting a long life. I found the first half's turbidity of time and perspective most engaging as a way of revealing memory and history of a place transforming from magical mysterious jungle, flowing into a more direct and unceasing narrative of human conflict with the powerful animals of the encroached forest.
Myth, magic, analogy and history entangle in this fascinating Thai story. The telling is relentless, never pausing for the end of a chapter, as all the stories amalgamate into one. Central to this is a Buddhist monk, a story-spinner who lived to be 101 years old. For the first half of the book, many stories interweave, all about characters in the monk's home village, somehow giving context to a century where farming practices and enclosure were normalised in Thailand. The second half is hyper-focussed on a short couple of years where the monk's life was changed irrevocably.
Animals are central to this story, particularly the tiger who is protagonist, antagonist, powerful and helpless. Shape-shifting myths, considerations of wildness and attitudes toward violence all interweave into a narrative that is heartbreaking and beautiful. So much happens in this book it is hard to believe you have not just entered a world, …
Myth, magic, analogy and history entangle in this fascinating Thai story. The telling is relentless, never pausing for the end of a chapter, as all the stories amalgamate into one. Central to this is a Buddhist monk, a story-spinner who lived to be 101 years old. For the first half of the book, many stories interweave, all about characters in the monk's home village, somehow giving context to a century where farming practices and enclosure were normalised in Thailand. The second half is hyper-focussed on a short couple of years where the monk's life was changed irrevocably.
Animals are central to this story, particularly the tiger who is protagonist, antagonist, powerful and helpless. Shape-shifting myths, considerations of wildness and attitudes toward violence all interweave into a narrative that is heartbreaking and beautiful. So much happens in this book it is hard to believe you have not just entered a world, and in the end nothing is revealed. The story, like the tiger, has many stripes and many beings, and hides in plain sight.
